Hays House 1857 Restaurant & Tavern — Restaurant in Council Grove

Hayes House We decided to try and venture to Hayes House in Council Grove, KS in celebration of my sister’s birthday. We had many options here locally in Wichita, KS, but the restaurant website touted a great experience, and so we had high expectations. After the nearly 2-hour trek of beautiful scenery while on the drive to the restaurant, we were greeted and then seated for our meal. Very quickly, we were approached by our server, and she asked for our drink order. Not knowing yet what we wanted, she suggested to bring us (group of 5) water. We mentioned that this was our first time and that we drove a ways to the establishment to celebrate a birthday. The waitress didn’t seem to care one way or another if we were there or not and never smiled.

Following some conversations at the table, and after placing our order, salads and appetizer (fried mushrooms) arrived. Everyone enjoyed the mushrooms. The salads were the typical out-of-bag. For one of the salads, our waitress brought Ranch dressing instead of French. When this was brought to her attention, not much of an apology was offered.

When our meal came out, our server began quickly passing extremely hot plates with no hot pads to the effect of “Here, take this plate, it is hot.” We were not quite prepared for this rapid-fire plate transfer while we tried not to burn ourselves and each other. For the meal, 2 prime rib dinners. 1 chicken-fried steak, 1 rib-eye steak, and fried beef tips were ordered. The chicken-fried steak and ribeye steak were okay, the prime rib was fair, and the fried beef tip meal was horrible/unacceptable! the coating had no flavor and was not fully cooked. The steak resembled and tasted of boiled roast meat. This was the meal served to our birthday girl! We were all sad and surprised at the same time after our high expectations for this place. After reading previous reviews following our visit, we noticed one review from a Hayes relative who also noted the fried beef tips were disgusting.

After bringing the concern about the food quality for at least 2 of the meals to our server’s attention, not much empathy or care was expressed. A different entree, the meatloaf, was brought out for the birthday girl. The meatloaf did not look appetizing, tasted strange, and was way too salty! The prime rib dinner was never addressed.

Then, we asked our waitress if we could speak with the manager so that we could share our disappointment about both the poor quality of food and poor service. Our waitress responded that we had not been happy with anything since we had arrived. This was not true and totally out of line. She said that she would let the manager know and that she had already spoken with him about the situation. She later returned and said the manager had just stepped out. We said that we could wait to which she responded that it may be over an hour before he returned.

Our waitress then brought our ticket. One meal had been removed but an 18% gratuity for a large party was added. There were only 5 people in our party! We let the waitress know that we did not agree with the tip and asked to see where that policy was noted. She said that the manager had instructed her to do this, and she took our ticket. We were left waiting for an extended period of time. Another waiter finally returned with the tip amount removed. We paid and then left very shocked and totally disappointed and dissatisfied with our experience.

We will never return to this establishment. The quality of food is not up to standard for $30 - $40 priced entrees, and the service is...

So, the saying goes... "if it looks like a dead fish and smells like a dead fish, it IS a dead fish." Hays House used to be an important regional bastion of Kansas cuisine, but I think that the dead fish here is that Hays House is no longer where it is at for great food in the Flint Hills. Rather, the fish IS dead, and the food really is pretty crappy... check out the other reviews... I am not the only one who has been gravely disappointed.

We three had the fried chicken special... so that was three pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. Of the four items, the mashed potatoes were pretty good, and clearly had been made in-house and with some care. The gravy was OK at best... pretty bland in the gravy per se, and just over-peppered in a vain attempt to give it some flavor. The fried chicken was over-fried, to the point that was dark brown and almost burned, but fried at too-low a temperature so it was very greasy. The green beans take the cake, however ... clearly not fresh, and salty beyond belief.

The restaurant advertizes that it won the prize for the "best fried chicken in Kansas" in 2022. Well, I can definitely say that the chicken is FAR from the best in the state... I could name four or five places that have better without a doubt (e.g., Ladybird Diner in Lawrence). So either Hays House has gone downhill since 2022, or who knows what. Kansas has far better fried chicken than the Hays House fried chicken special.

The greeter and waitresses were not terribly helpful or friendly. One in our party does not eat beef or pork, and so asked if the green beans were made with meat. The answer was clear that they were not made with meat, yet the green beans came out with slivers of what appeared to be bacon or thin-sliced ham.

Overall, we have many better options than coming back...

For many years we have looked forward to coming to Council Grove to meet up with friends all over Kansas. We had always had great service and food. Last Saturday 2/22/25 was a huge let down. HAYS HOUSE had been known for its fried chicken. Now it is a special only on two days. We were in the past room and had 20 people at 11.30am. Only two other couoles were in the restaurant. The one waitress was doing all she could to take care of but I never got a refill of water nor after asking 4x for my mash potatoes. I left after paying for a dinner that never was served completely. My wife ordered a cheeseburger and came out with our cheese. After waiting long enough to get a piece of cheese the burger was cold. Another person at the table didn't get his food until we were all almost done eating. The waitress said she was sorry and that the kitchen people do not speak very good English.

This is so sad knowing the history of the restaurant and being started by the grandson of Daniel Boone.

The one bright spot was the delicious shakes next door to the east at the antique store. They make the shakes from scratch and they have great selection of snacks along with antique booths.

That will be the last time we schedule a get together at this restaurant. We will look to support other places.

DQ bathrooms are cleaner.

This was such a disappointment. New ownership needs to get things squared away before they lose all patrons.

Also.. the columns outside that hold up the balcony are water rotted. I would advise not going on the balcony or front. (Not sure if they let...